I just read the below breakdown on the process to develop fighting skills, and consider it to be very good. We have been having a lot of discussion lately surrounding the flagship drill of WCK - chi sau, reviewing of chi sau clips and expression surrounding their applicability to developing fight skills or not. Questions have been coming up surrounding what might be necessary to supplement chi sau with and for what duration to develop real fight skills.
Now the reality of this is that for the average businessman, chi sau is a great comfort level. You can get a little hands on, and you are never in a great deal of danger. The average businessman may have real apprehension about live free fighting represented by sparring.
So what are your thoughts on the below writeup that describes a pattern for how to develop fight skills and chi sau?
I'm more starting a conversation here, not criticizing youtube clips or needing to prove a point. Maybe some have done this, some are curious, and some have strong opinions. All good. I'm mostly interested in what everyone does with chi sau along the below lines...
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When we break it down, there are FOUR Steps:
1 - Observation
Before we can learn something we must observe it. This usually occurs when your instructor begins to demonstrate a new technique. From the spectator view, you gain an idea of what is supposed to be done.
2 - Practice
After having the idea, you begin to practice the technique. Practice is slow and clumsy at first, because you have to think your way through the technique. Through practice you gain a better understanding of the technique, but you still are missing key points.
3 - Drilling
It is when you begin drilling that you build your skill level. When you are drilling, you are not thinking. You are performing the technique at 100% intensity. Your drilling will not be perfect since you lack perfect expertise. However, you will gain enhance proficiency through drilling.
4- Sparring
Sparring is one of the key elements in the learning process. It is the equivalent of a grade school test. It will provide you with valuable feedback. You will learn what works and what doesn't. Certain parts of your technique may have been executed poorly, and sparring will reveal that to you.
This is NOT a checklist - it is a cycle.
You will many repetitions of periods of observation, practice, drilling and sparring before you master a technique in the following fashion:
1 - The feedback you gain from sparring gets plugged in to your observation step
You observe what mistake you made during sparring.
2 - After acknowledging the error, you practice to correct the mistake that was made.
3 - You use drilling to retrain your instincts and develop proper technique
4 - You spar and see what feedback you gain, which restarts the cycle.
You will also know what steps you need to follow to perfect your technique.